


the art of friendship

by Forestgreengirl



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Friendship, Hospitals, Jay Halstead Needs A Hug, Jay sees two people looking lonely and is like “yes these are mine”, Kim Burgess Needs A Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Jay Halstead, Sean Roman Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25953214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forestgreengirl/pseuds/Forestgreengirl
Summary: Burgess and Roman were lonely.And that’s something Jay understands, the constant need to prove yourself to people that never deserved it, how you will break your own bones before you ever let somebody say they’re better than you.or(Jay Halstead learnt one thing off of Will, it was how to be a big brother)
Relationships: Kim Burgess & Jay Halstead, Kim Burgess & Jay Halstead & Sean Roman, Kim Burgess & Sean Roman, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> the title might change, I couldn’t think of anything else atm lmao 
> 
> I don’t own anything!!

Jay wasn’t 100% sure when he actually started to pay attention to the uniforms downstairs, usually none of them were interesting enough to care about, most of them only being in it for the power/glory, or they simply were lazy. 

And Jay  _ really  _ did  _ not  _ have  _ any  _ patience for lazy people, it was one of those things that made him go from 0-100 to in seconds. 

This wasn’t the case with officers Burgess and Roman.

At first glance, those two were just average cops; Burgess was good police, but painfully naive, and Roman was a cocky asshole that Burgess seemed to  _ hate.  _

At least at first, somewhere between them becoming partners, and now; those two managed to actually start to trust each other. It was good, that’s what you needed with a partner, if you didn’t trust them? You were as good as dead. 

He doesn't even know when he started noticing them, possibly after Burgess had been shot, and he saw the  _ fear  _ in Romans eyes-

_ -almost like a mirror back to the war, how it felt to carry Mouse’s body out, feeling the blood soak his uniform, the fear he knows he’ll never forget- _

-with Burgess’s blood on his hands, and how Jay could  _ see  _ the panic in his eyes everytime Burgess ran ahead; or maybe it was the way they arrived on scene to find out that Burgess had saved Romans life, had taken down a ring at the same time.

It made him respect them, just that little bit more. 

Jay almost misses it completely, the looks that Burgess and Roman steal at the rest of his team, at Platt, at each other, trying to appear subtle, to anybody else they might just get away with it; but Jay  _ grew up  _ having to learn how to read people, there was no way he was missing that sort of thing.

At first he mistakes it as jealousy, Intelligence is one of the best places you can be as a cop. 

It’s not until he really  _ looks, _ until he puts those skills he learnt as a child, that he used in the army; until he sees the barely-hidden emotion behind those looks, and he realises:

_ oh. _

Burgess and Roman were  _ lonely. _

And that’s something Jay understands, the constant need to  _ prove  _ yourself to people that never deserved it, how you will break your own bones before you  _ ever  _ let somebody say they’re better than you. 

And well, Burgess and Roman were two of the best uniforms they had in the 21st, both of them scarily smart, and dangerously competent; no matter what the others tended to think.

It’s no wonder those two were getting bored, no other uniformed cop in their district could really match them. 

It’s always lonely at the top. 

It troubled Jay at first, he could understand Roman, the guy never seemed to really get along with people; and he didn’t really branch out in any way, that Jay knew of. But he couldn’t understand Burgess, she was dating ( _ screwing?)  _ Adam, and appeared to be close with Atwater, so didn’t she have them in her corner?

And then he realises; Adam and Atwater had taken to spending most of their time with each other, or the team, and tended to be rather accidentally callous towards Burgess without meaning it, who while Jay knew she could handle herself; it had to hurt. 

Jay would never admit it, but he saw bits of himself and Mouse in those two, with the type of friendship they had.

In retrospect, that was probably what made him approach those two after they arrived at the latest crime-scene, after taking in the bone-deep exhaustion on their faces, and the way they were slowly looking more and more tense.

Those two were the ones to find the pile of bodies, so it’s no real surprise that they were beginning to lose it; bodies never got easier to find.

Jay still found himself feeling like he’s back in the burning-sand, and next to the sound of bullets, everytime he had to visit bodies-

_ -if there’s one thing you can never erase, it’ll be seeing his squad be shot in front of him, of finding their bodies blown to pieces; it’s something that paints itself on his eyelids every-night- _

-“Hey, you two! You guys alright?” 

Roman and Burgess look startled, almost like they can’t believe he's talking to them, and  _ wow;  _ he didn’t know he was apparently such a dick to have never really spoken to two of the best police officers they had. 

In fairness he was usually on a case, or trying to sort out  _ whatever the fuck  _ was going on with him and Erin. 

“Yeah, we’re good as you can be, all things considered.” Burgess spoke up, eyes flicking around before making eye contact with Jay. 

He admired that, somebody that could look him in the eye. 

“We’re fine.” Roman’s reply was a bit colder, tenser than Burgess, and Jay can’t even blame him, Roman wasn’t the best at social situations; Jay could relate, he wasn’t very good at talking to people as a teenager, that’s something he forced himself to learn. 

And well, they didn’t exactly get off on the best foot when they met. Jay only half-regrets how much he snapped at Roman when they first met.

“You sure? Because take it from somebody who sees this on the  _ regular,  _ these cases  _ suck.  _ And not in a good way.” 

That gets a laugh out of them, or a smile in Romans case. Jay is absolutely  _ not  _ above making dick jokes; it’s like being back in 8th grade. 

“Detective Halstead; making dick jokes on the scene. Whatever will people think.” Burgess teastes, hesitation obvious; she doesn’t know where she stands with Jay, and she doesn’t want to overstep.

“They’ll think that I have the best jokes on this team, and they would be  _ right.”  _ Jay laughs, clapping a hand on both their shoulders, before turning and running back in the direction of Antonio, that was yelling for him to “ _ Get his ass back over here!”  _

He threw a look over his shoulder at Burgess and Roman, they seemed  _ lighter,  _ less like they were one minor incident away from a nervous breakdown. 

He’d make sure to keep an eye on them in the future.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay, Burgess and Roman swap stories after Jay gets shot; he actually finds himself having a good time.

Unfortunately, the next time Jay would properly speak to Roman and Burgess, would be when he’s hooked up to machines, in a hospital bed.

A case gone wrong, the perp had somehow gotten the upper hand, put a bullet through his stomach, nipping some organs on its way through. It was very touch-and-go for a while.

And as much as Jay insisted it was just a graze, and that he was fine to go home, much to Will, and the other nurses horror; and go back to work, the doctors still wouldn’t let him leave; Will had threatened to tie him to the bed if he didn’t stop trying to leave.    
  
And well, Jay wasn’t stupid, he knew that Will would act on that; he’s done it before. 

Jay’s been spending most of his time rotating between bitching to Will, pissing his older brother off, sleeping, and talking to Erin; he’s surprised when Roman and Burgess enter the hospital room, nerves practically  _ radiating  _ off of them and almost wide-eyed. 

It’s slightly concerning to say the least. 

“Hey you two, didn’t expect to see you two stop by.” Jay greets, making sure his tone was good; he was never good at knowing what tone was appropriate for the conversation, but he thinks this is pretty close to perfect, judging by way the nerves seep out of the two officers just a bit. 

“We uh- we wanted to apologise, we were supposed to have your back, and we didn’t. And we’re sorry.” Burgess blurts out bluntly, tact going out the window. Jay grins when he sees Roman wincing where he’s standing next to her, and Jay can’t help but laugh.

“It’s fine, I’m still alive, aren’t I?” 

It’s evidently still too recent to be making those jokes, because for a split second Burgess looks like she wants to  _ cry;  _ and Jay immediately feels bad. He doesn’t know how to talk about these things without joking, or at all; a  _ lovely  _ side effect of growing up in the Halstead household. 

“Don’t joke about that, you could have  _ died.”  _ Roman growls out, voice tense, and for a moment Jay is surprised at the tone, and apparently so is Burgess, judging by the concerned look she throws his way. 

That surprise is very swiftly followed by realisation; Burgess was shot just a few months back, and Jay can still remember the worry that Roman radiated for the weeks after that. He didn’t react well to police officers getting shot. 

“But I didn’t, which honestly, was quite relieving. And you guys did have my back, you called backup! I just wasn’t as aware of my surroundings as I should have been. Wasn’t any of your guys fault.” Jay has one skill, and how to take the blame from people. He learnt that lovely little talent from his mother, and her constant defending of his father.

“Yeah but-“ Burgess tries to explain, and honestly it’s surprising that she hasn’t realised that it’s a lost cause by this point. 

If there’s one thing that Jay can do well, it’s  _ arguing.  _

“Nope! No buts! I am perfectly alright. However I am bored as fuck, so if you guys aren’t busy, come in and  _ stop  _ the boredom.”

Burgess and Roman somehow look more shocked than usual. It would be funny if it wasn’t also so incredibly sad.

“...Are you sure?”

“ _ Yes.  _ Otherwise I’m stuck with Will to entertain me, and I think I might punch him if he doesn’t shut up.” Jay grins, gesturing towards where his brother is standing outside arguing with a Dr Rhodes. 

Burgess and Roman share another hesitant, slightly confused look before inching forward till Roman’s leaning against the wall, and Burgess has slipped into the chair next to his bed. 

“So. Any shit going down in uniform land?” Jay questions after a moment, trying to avoid a tense-silence falling. 

It works, Burgess cracks a smile before responding, “not heaps. I mean, Platt caught officer Davis and Meadow hooking up in the showers.”

Roman grins at the ceiling, and Jay can’t help the sharp bark of laughter, even as it immediately makes him wince at the sharp pain that follows. 

“Right well, I can practically  _ see  _ Platt’s face at that, she must have been  _ pissed.”  _

“That’s an understatement. It only got worse when officer Davis told Platt to ‘mind her own business.’” Roman adds in, and this time all three of them shudder slightly.

A pissed off Platt, is a  _ terrifying  _ Platt.

“I can  _ absolutely  _ see that. I would hate to be Davies, I’d just have to leave the district out of shame.”

“Yeah, lets just say he’s doing all the shitty jobs for a while.” 

“So this may not be appropriate to ask,” Burgess starts off nervously, twisting the car keys in her hand, “ _ but  _ is Intelligence really as intimidating as they seem?”

Jay really does try his best not to laugh, it was a valid and serious question. It’s just that he also remembers the time Adam got stuck under his desk, and it took Erin, Antonio, and Jay to get him out. 

“Well, between you two and I, just last week Antonio went to drink out the juice cartoon, like a  _ heathen,  _ and completely missed and tipped it all down his top.” Jay responds, smirking, trying not to outright lose his shit.

Roman and Burgess go wide-eyed for a moment, before erupting in snickers themself. 

“Wait- wait so is that why Detective Dawson disappeared for half a day?” Roman questions, and  _ yeah  _ the other man pretty much worked that one out immediately.

Hopefully this wouldn’t get back to Antonio, Jay is pretty sure that the older detective would murder him for compromising his reputation. 

“Yep. He had forgotten to stash spare clothes, and had to drive home and get some. And then somehow got trapped in traffic. That whole day was a mess.” 

“Glad to see that apparently Intelligence, and the other police officers, are apparently all disasters when left unattended.”

“Oh absolutely. The Intelligence unit is just 10x better at hiding it than uniforms. We have  _ reputations  _ to keep up.” Jay says, provoking another laugh from the other two.

They continue chatting for a bit, about sports, and the weirdest stuff they’ve found on busts. Jay finds himself actually genuinely enjoying their company, and is relieved to see that Burgess and Roman look calmer than they were when they first came in.

It’s good, at least until Maggie comes in and shoes the other two out so Jay can rest, after giving him another dose of pain medication. 

“Hey, you two. Before you go, you’re welcome to come chat anytime, I’m sure I’ve got a hundred over stories you’d enjoy.”

Jay would die before he admitted it, but it was genuinely  _ fun  _ to talk to those two.

“Feel better soon, Platt won’t admit it but she was worried about you.” Burgess says, Roman nodding behind her.

Jay just nods in response, eyes already slipping shut; he was well-aware of the fact that Platt secretly cared a lot about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter! sorry it took awhile, between writers block and assignments; I’m suffering. but here we go!!
> 
> tumblr: @forestgreengirl

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t even know how this happened, the idea quite literally came to me in a dream and now this has happened-  
> Idk?? These three just look like they could be Good friends if given the chance- 
> 
> This fandom crept up on me and I am suffering but I guess this is just my life now- 
> 
> come chat on tumblr! (@forestgreengirl)


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